Boost for Berrimba students

CHILDREN at Berrimba Child Care will continue to start school on track thanks to a $63,390 state government allocation.

The Victorian Government’s school readiness funding will ensure children get the most out of kinder in 2019.

A share in $58.1 million will be given to 580 kinders, allowing them to engage with experts and access evidence-based programs to help kids stay on par with their peers.

Additionally, about 125 additional children in kindergartens run by Aboriginal community controlled organisations will also receive funding in 2019 — including Berrimba Child Care.

“We’re investing in our littlest Victorians in Echuca so they get the best possible start in life and make the most of these valuable kinder years,’’ Member for Northern Victoria Mark Gepp said.

Census data shows one in five Victorian children start school developmentally vulnerable and once behind, they tend to stay behind.

School readiness funding aims to allow Victorian kinders to tap into the expertise of speech and occupational therapists, language and literacy professionals and child psychologists to boost the capability of both parents and teachers.

Mr Gepp said it was the first time in Australia such funding had been made available to kindergartens and would become a permanent part of Victoria’s early childhood education funding.